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No two people experience it the same way. Loss always feels uniquely, sadly, one’s own.

The New York Rangers tried their best Sunday to share — or at least support — the
burden of teammate Martin St. Louis
. They are young men and, for the most part, have yet to confront tragedy, the death of a parent, a loved one.

It was enough that they were simply there, at the Complexe Sainte-Dorothee in Montreal’s north suburb, for the funeral of France St. Louis, who died suddenly three days before Mother’s Day. The service was deferred because — how trivial this might seem — hockey playoffs got in the way.

And so there was some awkwardness, the abrupt shift in mood from celebrating a dominant Game 1 victory to respectful silence as St. Louis rose to speak from the lectern of his mum. Then it was back to the Bell Centre, leaving their teammate in the bosom of his family, his other family.

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“What I can say is that the New York Rangers family has been touched by a little Quebec family in a deep, profound way,” coach Alain Vigneault told reporters afterwards, finding just the right words. “Today was very emotional, very moving time for our team to have the opportunity to be there and share that with Marty and his family.”

In the dressing room, conversations segued weirdly from the murmur of an absent friend’s bereavement to expectant discussion of Game 2.

“You could see it in his eyes,” said Ryan McDonagh. “There was pain there for sure.”

Yet St. Louis did his mother proud, in memorializing her.

“The good times and the memories,” McDonagh continued. “He shared a couple of those with us during the service. You could just tell she was a great lady and influenced him a lot.”

The veteran player has not missed a game since his mother, just 63 years old, was lost to him. Hockey has been a solace, a world away — if just across the river from his childhood home — and St. Louis has said his mom would want this of him. Most touching, mixed in with the Montreal crowd’s despair over a disastrous Game 1 result, was the standing ovation they gave a native son when he came out as first star on Saturday, and it wasn’t just because he’d scored a goal.

So often, and unexpectedly, this beautiful game can take your breath away.

St. Louis has clearly compartmentalized, or submerged, his mourning, yanked between the hockey orbit and his family, one moment addressing his mother’s death, next moment answering questions about the on-ice realm. It must be bewilder.

“Trying to play and then trying to make sure he’s doing all the right things for his family and his dad and doing what his mom would want,” said Brad Richards, who won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in Tampa Bay a decade ago. “I think we all know this will probably hit him when hockey is over and he has time to reflect. But he’s done an unbelievable job keeping everything together and helping his sister and dad get through this.

“You wouldn’t expect anything else.”

While nobody has exploited this private event, it can’t be disputed that the death of a teammate’s parent has been woven into the club’s post-season tapestry.

“The timing of it probably leads to a great story,” Richards acknowledged. “And we want it to be a great story. We’re not trying to hide that. At the same time, we’ve played good hockey all year. It made Marty get to know the guys and the group and the organization a lot quicker than he would have if that didn’t happen, you know, when you’re coming to a new team.

“I think it made us get closer to him and he really feels like he’s a Ranger now, with what he went through and everybody behind him.”

The truth is, as a few players observed, St. Louis is not a man they know from long familiarity. He joined the club at the trade deadline, March 5.

One among them, however, knows more intimately of St. Louis’ pain. Dominic Moore was not just a teammate in Tampa for two seasons but abandoned the game for a year to be with his wife, Katie, as she fought a losing battle with liver cancer. St. Louis was a close friend to lean on.

“He was there for me. It’s nice that we could be here for him this weekend.”

As a widower, Moore has been to a dark place — fortunately never known by his teammates — and come back again.

“Obviously everyone goes through different experiences and I don’t know what everyone’s gone through on a personal level. But certainly I can understand some of the emotions that Marty’s father and Marty are feeling.

“One thing that he said to me is that he understands better now what I went through. That’s something we can share, come closer.”

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